I took a small vacation last weekend to New Mexico and rented a base 2015 Grand Cherokee Laredo. I am the current owner of a 2015 V6 Overland and was surprised to see many standard features included in the Laredo like the leather wrapped steering wheel and the full LCD instrument panel to name a few. Overall, I would still miss all the options that come with an Overland but I was rather impressed with the Laredo in general. Just a thought.
It is a nice vehicle to get into, agreed. They upped their game a bit recently, allegedly on orders from the very top.
I had rented a V6 GC 2012 and was somewhat underwhelmed compared to a 95 limited. It took a while for my dealer to wash the bad taste out of my mouth in order to get me to upgrade.
Well, I have a 13 Laredo X package with the 5.7 and love it. From what I can gather I'm just a couple options sorry from being a limited. But I still love it.
2013 Laredo X Hemi with the 20 inch wheels and Nav has everything I need.
Auto Climate control, heated leather seats and steering wheel, back up camera, voice controls, bluetooth, remote start, :thumbsup:
I don't need a leather dash, complicated expensive suspension or a power tailgate.
Added a Borla exhaust and I'm good to go.
Jeep's TV commercials say Grand Cherokee is the top selling mid-sized SUV here in the Northeast. The Laredo is probably one of the primary reasons as it is a terrific value in this market.
My must have item that kept me away from the Laredo was the lack of a selectable 4 wheel drive system.
I seem to think the Laredo also doesn't give you the paddle shifters, which was another must have for me coming from a manual transmission vehicle previously.
I also prefer the base wheels for the Limited way more. In fact, I really like the overall looks of the limited over the Laredo. The differences aren't massive, but different enough where it counts.
I know some knock the power lift gate, but it's a huge feature when your hands are full. The only down side is you have to make sure you have your fob out so you can hit the open button. That's where the Ford Explorer almost had me: the foot activated lift gate.
I like the self adjusting driver's seat with easy exit/entry. I can't remember if that's a feature on the Laredo or not.
Having said that, if the Laredo had both the selectable 4 wheel drive and the paddle shifters, I would have been OK with not having those other features.
I am perfectly happy with my 12' Laredo hemi. Navi, leather, hemi, select terrain, tow package... everything I could ever want from a GC. the ONLY thing I would have liked more than what I got was one with the panoramic sunroof.
Same here...very happy with my 11' Laredo X. About the only option I miss are the memory seats & telescopic steering wheel. Had these on prior vehicle so I know what I'm missing.
Rear ELSD is standard with QuadraDrive. The Jeep site seems to indicate that the Summit 4x4 (Hemi or EcoDiesel) no longer has QD available for MY15 but it's optional on the Overland 4x4. If that's true, it's probably because Summit is not marketed toward the off-road crowd.